My toilet runneth over!

Once upon a time, (well ok, it was Friday morning, if you must know) there was a grumpy, exhausted maiden who was wont to linger longer in bed.

Alas, her daughter exclaimed, "Arise from thy bedchamber and drive me in the carriage to the house of education. Hasten, for we have languished in bed too long and the time is nigh at hand for the bell of tardiness to ring."

And so the grumpy maiden arose post haste and descended her stairs, whilst rubbing her eyes, longing for a short drive in the carriage, where upon she would return to her bedchamber for a long, lingering, nap, whilst all her children were attending school.

But alas her dream was in vain. Because upon entering her chamber for TV watching, her eyes beheld that an evil wizard had cast a spell turning the laminate floor into a swamp. Yea, verily even the guinea pig hangeth ten as her cage floated across the floor.

In great hast, the grumpy maiden gathereth all the towels of the house and hastened to rescue items of value that were beginning to succumb to the flood. There was much scurrying and bailing. And running to and fro to empty the contents of the room.

And woe, some of the books were soaked to destruction. But by some twisted turn of fate, none of them belongeth to the library, and so no fines of torture were inflicted upon the maiden.

And then the maiden's fair daughter cried out "Woe is me, today is the day scheduled for physical exertion and my running shoes are wet like unto a soggy sponge."

And the grumpy maiden looked and saw that it was true. And verily, the maiden exhorted the fair daughter to wear her slip on footwear and promised to dry the running shoes with the aid of the fire breathing dragon that lives inside the dryer.

Indeed, the grumpy maiden exclaimed for the fair daughter to make haste, for the time was short and the bell ringing was nigh at hand. And so they hastened to the carriage and managed to arrive at the house of education just as the bell ringing started and with out peril to any pedestrians or crossing guards.

The now soggy, grouchy, grumpy maiden returned home to continue her flood fighting efforts. Wielding a broom she did gird up her loins and proceed to sweep as much of the water as possible out of the back door onto the porch.

And hark she heard a rapping at the door. And behold it was her friend with her two small children arriving to harvest her pomegranates, because the grumpy, grouchy maiden hath no time for jelly making. The soggy, grouchy, grumpy maiden exhorted the children to watch out for the slippery floor. And whilst her friend tarried in the pomegranate vineyard, the maiden returned to sopping and mopping.

Whilst sopping and mopping, the telephone rangeth, and the maiden ran to and fro looking for a phone that was fully charged. The phone call informed her of the impending arrival of her new stove from the place of home warranties. This was fortuitous as the maiden could enter a plea to the home warranty place for help in the plumbing department at the very same time. And yea, her plea was of the 911 nature. The soggy, grouchy, grumpy maiden was assured that the plumber would make haste to her rescue.

The maiden was receiving a new stove, because her old stove was old like unto Methuselah and was no longer performing the purpose for which it was intended. Yea, the pilot light did stick whenever the stove was used, and continued clicking for the entire cooking time, whether it be 20 minutes or 2 hours. And the ticking thereof grateth on the grumpy maiden's nerves. And behold the stove repairman declared the old stove to be unfixable, and so a new stove was sent for.

Upon hearing of the new stove's arrival, the maiden redirected her efforts from the sopping and mopping to the pushing and shoving of the furniture to prepare a path for the new stove.

For verily the way from the front door to her kitchen was very narrow and fraught with obstacles.

The maiden searched high and low through out her house for every available towel to be used in the sopping and mopping. Yea even, she began using the magical clothes washing machine, in order to obtain more dry towels.

Shortly thereafter the bell of the door rangeth. And the soggy, grouchy, grumpy maiden hastened to the door and inquired "Are you here for the stove or the plumbing?" And verily it was for the stove.

And whilst the soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden continued the process of sopping and mopping, the workman removed the old stove. And they did bestow pity upon the maiden, for they did have great empathy for her woeful state of dampness.

And whence the ancient stove was removed, the maiden looked and saw years of crumbs collected beneath the old stove. And the maiden put her shoulder to the wheel in removing the scourge of filth found there upon. And yea verily the crumbs were hard like unto cement. After some wailing and gnashing of teeth, the grime was removed.
And behold, the grumpy, grouchy maiden began receiving pleas from her son in the tenth grade. Yea, he did text and call her exceedingly often, saying that he felt light in the head and needed to come home. And verily, the grumpy maiden did exhort her son to sucketh it up and stay at school. Yea, and she was not amused at his persistence in exclaiming his impending death if she did not rescue him. But the grouchy maiden was firm and immovable in her resolve that he would complete the day of his education. And his pleas did fall upon deaf ears. For truly she was otherwise occupied.

The new stove was installed, and the maiden saw that it was good. For it was beautiful to behold, in that it was black like unto the fridge and dishwasher, unlike the old beige stove.

The workmen finally retired to their carriage, and the soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden looked and saw that the time for the daughters physical exertion was nigh at hand, yea even 5 minutes away.

And the maiden took great haste in finding socks and taking the running shoes to the office of the house of education and bestowed the partially dried running shoes upon the fair daughter.

The fair daughter pled with the grumpy maiden saying "Today is the designated day for families to feast with their children during lunch time. Yea, please bringeth me a BIG Mac from the House of McDonalds as a token of your love and devotion." And the silly, soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden replied that she would do her best.

And so she returned to the task of sopping and mopping.

Verily all of her efforts seemed to be in vain, for every time she looked, more water was seeping up through the laminate flooring.

And behold, the phone did ringeth again. And the grumpy maiden received the news of the plumbers longed for arrival. But woe unto the fair daughter because it was at the same time as the hour of lunch.

Yea and verily the fair daughter did call and plead with great vigor for the grouchy maiden to come hither with her BIG Mac. And the maiden had to deny the pleas of her daughter, yea even though they were many, and the daughter did wail and gnash her teeth at the news that she would have to eat hot lunch that day.

And behold, the doorbell ringeth again, and lo it was the plumber. And the soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden did invite him into her abode of sogginess.

And verily, the plumber did search low and high for the source of the flooding, but to no avail. He discovereth not the source of the water. And the grumpy maiden did follow him around and give many suggestions. But alas they could not discover from whence the water was flowing.

Finally, as a last resort, the plumber suggested cutting a whole in the ceiling of the TV watching chamber roon

. Yea, even though the home warranty would not cover repairing the damage done by the hole cutting. And the grumpy maiden did giver her consent for what else could she do?

And the plumber did say unto the distraught soggy maiden, let me run and get a waiver for thee to sign away all thy liabilities. And the maiden did despair, for it is never a good thing when someone says "Let me get a waiver."

And verily, not one hole but two were caused to be cut in the ceiling. But alas, that was not the source of the leaking either. And the soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden began to despair.

For she had mopped up buckets and buckets of water, and still there was no end in sight.

And behold there was a plate of brownies sitting on the kitchen counter which were left over from the enriching event of the previous evening. And the starving, soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden did fall upon the brownies devouring many, yea even until the plate was clean.

And behold the plumber did continue his search for the cause of the problem. Yea, even unto the opening of cupboard doors, whereupon items crammed inside did fall out upon his head.

Yea and he did discover that the water had entered the closet of containment, which was piled high with items without other storage solutions. And it became necessary for the soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden to empty the closet, which was mountainous to behold. And this at great peril to her life.

And the maiden beheld that the carpet on the floor of the closet was soaking and must be disposed of in the waste receptacle. Yea, even it was dripping with excess water.
And the carpet pad was also soaketh, and caused to be removed. But behold it was glued to the floor and was most difficult to remove. And verily, the grouchy maiden thinketh her back would break from the efforts of removing the carpet pad.

And behold next the plumber discovered the water had entered the cavity that we had caused to be cut under the stairs for the purpose of storage.

And much of the contents of the storage chamber were removed, in order to see the damage that had been done.

Yea, even some of the food that the maiden had stored up for the day of famine as foretold by the prophets, yea some of that was touched by the water flowing into the house.
But behold, much of the food was spared.

And it came to pass that the plumber finally after several hours of searching, yea he did discover the problem. There was a clog in the pipe that goeth from the house out into the sewer. And so when the children had showered that morning, the water was unable to get to the sewer and instead did flow out of the downstairs toilet.

Upon hearing this news, the soppy, soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden felt faint of heart. For this news did concern her greatly. But yea, while the plumber did snake out the pipe, the maiden did continue in her efforts to clean up the mess.

And behold the grouchy maiden did look at the clock, and verily it was the time of dismissal for the fair daughter. And the maiden did hasten to fetch the fair daughter and the fair daughter's friend, who was promised to come for a visit that afternoon.

And verily, the fair daughter and her friend did take the large box from the new stove to make a fort. And they requireth sticky Velcro and fabric for the making of their fort. And the making of it did involve a great mess, but verily it did keep them occupied, whilst the maiden took a moment to sit upon her couch.

And verily, the soggy, grumpy, grouchy maiden did make a call to her home owners insurance, and hence then did inform her of her $1000 dollar deductible. And it seemeth a harsh thing. Yea verily, her husband did say that he could repair the damage for much less, and so the claim will be withdrawn.

At the end of the day, the grumpy, grouchy maiden did lay upon her bed in a state of sheer and utter exhaustion. And behold she slept, but her dreams were troubled by visions of waves and toilets and Guinea pigs hanging ten. And verily she did rise the next day and commence in the cleaning process. And yea it will be many fortnights before all is returned to normal in her home.

But behold, all is not in vain, for the events did make for a very entertaining post for her blog.

Just the Facts Mam

In Joe Friday fashion I will try to convey the events of the past week in a readers digest fashion:

- I worked 48 hours between Tuesday and Saturday. Friday I worked for RAZ from 9-6 and then went over and worked at Global Views until 8:30. After I got home I had to run to Target and get a birthday present for a sleep over that Diana was invited to at the last minute. Saturday I did sleep in, but then I went in and worked for 5 hours, came home and did 7 loads of laundry, shopped at 4 stores for a new microwave, because of course ours broke the day before, prepared a gospel doctrine lesson, and went grocery shopping. I am physically exhausted, can I get an Amen? Oh yes, the hamster wheel is on overdrive for sure.

- Jared started second semester, went to 2 out of 3 days the first week, 2 out of 5 days the second week, and it doesn't look like he will go this week at all.

- His problem now, besides the ever debilitating nerve pain, is abdominal pain. It has been getting worse over the past few weeks. This past week has been the worst, and at first I thought it was the flu, and of course said suck it up, to him.

- Finally it was so bad Sunday night, that I took him into the ER. I hated to go. I postponed it as long as my conscience would allow. Then I packed up as if I were moving back to the hospital just in case. I wore my warmest sweatshirt. I took my phone charger. No one can say that I have not learned a thing or two about visits to ERs and hospitals. We were there from 7 til midnight. They took a urine sample, did a CBC, and took x-rays of his stomach. They couldn't find anything horribly wrong, so they sent us home to see our pediatrician and get a referral to a gastric specialist. I recognized one of the nurses from the night he was admitted back in July. They did guess that it is an ulcer, but they do not do those kinds of tests at the ER, hence the need for the specialist.

- This morning, I called to get an appointment at 8:00 and was told Wednesday was the soonest. So I called the special doctor office number that I have and they said could we be there at 9:30. We hurried and dropped Diana off at school and headed out on our medical quest.

- Checking in, filling out forms, waiting, waiting, and more waiting, then the pediatrician came in and checked him over, agreed that he needed the specialist and called to see when they would see us. He came back and said could we be there at 11:00, it was 10:30. So we did our best amazing race impersonation because the other office was 20 mins away.

- More checking in, more forms, more waiting, waiting, waiting. The Gastric specialist wanted more blood work done to check his liver, pancreas, and gall bladder levels. Also he scheduled us to be scoped next week on Thursday. I am suppose to work that day, but they will have to let me have it off.

- Next we went to the lab, where guess what we checked in, filled out forms, and waited. One couple who were there before us got so mad because someone was taken back before them. The receptionist tried to explain that the person was a STAT order and so they go to the front of the line. This older gentleman pretty much threw a hissy fit and finally left. Which was entertaining to watch and then we moved up in line. I did share his pain though.

- Sorry this is so sloppily written and not very humorous. But it will give you some idea of why I am so missing in action. I hardly have time to breath. This week could be a little bit easier on the work hours and that just might save my sanity which is hanging by the tiniest sliver of something.

The other night I woke up screaming out loud, which is either a sign that I am too stressed out or I just like my profile picture so much that I try to imitate it at any given moment.

I will get through this. I am reading a book called When you can't do it alone, or something like that. He talks about having a break down as a mission president when the stress got to be to much and how focusing on Christ and his love helped him get through hard times. I will keep telling myself that I can do this, and I will make it and maybe I can fake it til I make it.